


some call it magic

by Likedeadends



Series: 25 days of Johnmas [3]
Category: Monsta X (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Magic, Pining, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27867377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Likedeadends/pseuds/Likedeadends
Summary: Johnny is a witch, but even he isn't immune to Shownu's magic.
Relationships: Suh Youngho | Johnny/Son Hyunwoo | Shownu
Series: 25 days of Johnmas [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038778
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	some call it magic

Shownu is a good constant in Johnny’s life. He only talks when he thinks it’s important, he laughs at all of Johnny’s jokes (even when they aren’t funny), and he knows how to balance their accounts at the end of the year. 

He is sort of frustratingly perfect. 

Johnny frowns at the cauldron in front of him. He was trying to brew a sleep draught, but all that he’s looking at is lifeless black sludge. 

“Please,” he whines at the potion. He knows it’s supposed to be a soft lavender shade and steaming just a bit. He looks at the notes Shownu had written for him, checks the ingredients he used, and then goes back to brooding at the cauldron. He knows he did everything right. He’s sure. 

He grabs a wooden spoon and carefully submerges it in the liquid. Twelve stirs clockwise, whispering blessings over it to try and bring the potion to life. 

It bubbles a little on the twelfth rotation. Johnny almost cheers in victory, if not for the fact the mixture goes back to looking flat and dangerous in the next second. 

“Are you kidding me?” He groans. He steps away because Shownu always tells him he doesn’t think clearly enough when he’s getting frustrated. 

Shownu never gets frustrated. 

He has been doing magic longer than Johnny’s been alive. His hands are always steady, he never forgets an incantation, and he can measure ingredients by eye and _gut feeling_. 

When Johnny first met Shownu, he was stunned. He stumbled into Shownu’s shop looking to replenish his store of frog’s breath and scorpion venom two years ago. Shownu came out from the back room in a barely buttoned blue satin top, covered with a sheer black duster. He had on layers of necklaces, every length and color, jewels and stones looking like magic against his skin (especially the way they bunched together in the crevice between his pecs). 

It took a lot for Johnny to not proposition him right away. Especially when he opened his (absolutely exquisite) mouth and spoke in the sweetest lullaby of a voice to ask Johnny what he needed help with. 

Johnny left the store with way more than what he came in looking for. He kept “remembering” other items whenever Shownu got ready to ring him up. Johnny wondered if he was under a spell. 

(“No, idiot, you just need to get laid.” Ten teased him later on.)

Thus began Johnny’s frequent visits to Shownu’s magic shop. 

Some of the time he actually did need to get materials. Most of the time, he was picking something random from the shelf and asking Shownu for advice on different spells. 

Around his fifth visit he realized that Shownu was much more skilled than him. Shownu had a familiar; a little gray cat that followed him around the shop and did not like Johnny at all. Johnny didn’t realize it was a familiar until he watched Shownu enchanting a houseplant and the cat circled between Shownu’s legs the whole time. 

Johnny didn’t have a familiar yet. His mom told him the time would come when he was ready, strong enough to harness more power. He felt the smallest twinge of jealousy watching Shownu, but quickly brushed it away. Shownu was obviously more seasoned-- he wasn’t the one pining over a witch out in broad daylight.

Shownu was patient. He started beating Johnny to the punch. He invited Johnny to come to the shop on weekends to help take care of the plants or recharge the crystals. He let Johnny stir some of the less potent potions. He showed Johnny his grimoire and even let Johnny copy down a spell once. 

Johnny just let himself be smitten. He couldn’t imagine anyone meeting Shownu and not being head over heels. 

Which is why Johnny decided he needed to impress Shownu. He saw witches come in and out of the shop, with their flirty eyes and lingering touches. Shownu pretty religiously did not wear real shirts and he was too polite to step back when people got too close. 

Johnny tried to charm Shownu’s clothes to make him smell bad to other people. It backfired and Shownu made Johnny work in the garden for the rest of the week until it wore off. 

“What exactly were you trying a spell like that for?” Shownu asked him over a cup of tea. 

“Just… wanted to see if it would work.” Johnny lied through his teeth. Shownu had a way of looking at him like he knew what he was thinking, so Johnny just blushed bright red and tried to pretend it wasn’t obvious what he was doing. 

“Well, try it on your roommate instead.” 

Ten was not happy to hear that later on. Johnny did not care. 

\--

Johnny forced himself to get better at magic so that Shownu wouldn’t get bored with him or annoyed that Johnny had nothing to bring to the table. Shownu, for all his perfection, was not great with his hands. 

Johnny’s strongest magic was with his palms. 

He could conjure flames and starlight and cute little orbs that floated to the ceiling and disappeared if you blew on them. 

Shownu’s eyes always got big whenever Johnny showed him any of those tricks. The only problem was that even a little fire or a few orbs would make Johnny exhausted for the rest of the day. 

“You can borrow Taeyong.” Shownu said one day, taking the little cat into his arms and holding it out to Johnny. Johnny stared into two big, unblinking, green eyes and felt very torn. On the one hand, he did not want to say no to Shownu. On the other hand, he felt like Taeyong would absolutely scratch him. 

“He won’t hurt you. He likes you.” Shownu insisted, sitting next to Johnny on the lumpy couch in the back room. He moved closer and then carefully set the familiar into Johnny’s lap. Johnny braced himself; both out of fear of Taeyong’s wrath and complete shock from how close Shownu was sitting to him. 

Taeyong did not scratch Johnny that day. He sniffed Johnny’s shirt, circled in his lap, then laid down and started purring. Johnny pet behind his ears very carefully (at Shownu’s instruction) and immediately felt better. 

\--

“You know, that’s pretty bold of him to let you touch his familiar.” Ten said later on. 

“What do you mean?” Johnny asked, brushing some of the fur from his lap. 

“Because that’s not just a pet, ya know? It’s an extension of him. You were, like, fondling his spirit.” 

Johnny did not talk to Ten for the rest of the night. 

\--

Johnny vowed to get better at magic and stronger so that he would not need to continue borrowing Taeyong and could instead conjure up his own familiar. 

Shownu was ever patient with him. They worked together on spells and eventually Johnny became an official employee at the shop. He was friendly with the regulars and really great with the tourists who passed through that were clearly just looking for kitschy pictures and not real magic. He did tarot readings when Shownu was too busy and got used to Taeyong stepping all over his feet whenever he wanted to be pet. 

He wasn’t sure how much of it was making him a better witch, but he loved his day to day. 

One day, a man around Johnny’s age came into the store. He looked nervous enough that Johnny kept a close eye on him to make sure he wasn’t stealing. 

“Anything I can help you with?” Johnny eventually ended up asking after watching the man wander the store three times over. 

“Oh, uh, maybe actually…” The man said. He scratched the back of his neck and did not meet Johnny’s eyes. Johnny waited him out. Eventually he said: “I’m looking for a love potion” 

Johnny did not laugh. He smiled and instead asked if the man would like some tea.

“What’s your name?” He asked while the earl grey steeped. 

“Jaehyun.” The man fidgeted in his chair while he said it. Johnny still didn’t laugh. 

“Why do you need a love potion, Jaehyun?” 

Johnny had seen Shownu have this conversation enough times before that he knew he could do it himself. Jaehyun did look a bit more squeamish than some of the others, though. 

“It’s not for anyone else, if that’s what you’re thinking.” He looked at his lap, voice barely a whisper. “I’m in love with my best friend. He doesn’t feel the same way… I thought maybe I could take a love potion and just… move on to someone else.” 

While it was certainly a bit more innocent than the other reasons Johnny had heard before, Shownu had a strict no love potion policy. Johnny handed Jaehyun a mug and sat next to him.

“I’m sorry, we don’t do that type of magic here.” Jaehyun did not look happy with that answer. “I can give you something to mend a broken heart, though. If you decide to take your chances and make a confession to your friend. You could walk away with a boyfriend and, if not, you’ll have something to soothe you.” 

Jaehyun looked pretty queasy at the suggestion. They talked for a while longer and he did end up letting Johnny make him a cure for broken hearts. “It’ll be better, right? Better to take a shot and strike out, than never try at all?” 

Johnny nodded sagely and let himself feel very proud for a job well done. 

Shownu came down the stairs a little later, looking equally proud. 

“I heard you in here earlier. You’re really getting good at this.” 

Johnny blushed because he always did when Shownu complimented him. He tried not to think about the advice he’d just given Jaehyun. He tried not to let himself imagine crawling into Shownu’s arms after they closed the shop. One of those things did not work. 

\--

“I think you’re being stupid, Johnny. He obviously feels some sort of special way about you. He lets you take part in all sorts of intimate magic with him. I think you should just ask him for a fertility potion and then kiss him silly when he asks why.” Ten lived for teasing Johnny like this. 

Johnny groaned and buried his face in a pillow. 

\-- 

Eventually, Johnny caved and took Ten’s advice-- well, the concept anyways. 

It was getting suffocating following Shownu around like Taeyong. 

One night after they closed the shop, they were preparing to make moon water and Johnny just put his mason jar down and grabbed Shownu by his handsome jaw. 

“What? Is there something on my face?” Shownu asked, putting down his mason jar too. Johnny shook his head and pulled Shownu into a kiss. 

No soap opera or romcom could ever come close to the magic Johnny felt that night. They were bathed in the light of the full moon, blessed by the fairies in the garden, and Shownu’s lips were softer than flower petals. 

Shownu was only surprised for a second or two before he pulled Johnny into him. 

They kissed for hours. They missed the apex of the moon and Shownu didn’t mind for a second that they wouldn’t have any moon water for the month. 

\--

So, Johnny has a beautiful, powerful, witch boyfriend. They run the shop together and sleep in the apartment upstairs. They co-parent Taeyong and Shownu helps Johnny with his magic whenever he can. \

Johnny stares at the unyielding potion in the cauldron. 

He does not want to bother his boyfriend over something as simple as a sleeping draught. 

He tries blessing a rose quartz and adding it to the mix, hoping it would soak up whatever was causing the negative reaction. Somehow it makes the sludge turn almost completely solid, which in turn renders Johnny’s two hours worth of work completely useless. 

He groans and kicks at the leg of the cauldron, even though he knew it had to be his own fault. 

“Baby,” Shownu’s voice comes from behind him, the familiar embrace of his arms coming around Johnny’s waist. “Getting angry isn’t going to change anything now.” 

Johnny frowns an ugly frown and then turns in Shownu’s arms to nuzzle into his chest. 

“S’not fair. I did everything the notes said.” He is pouting. He does not care. Shownu pets a comforting hand down his spine and makes a noise of agreement. Then:

“Did you clean the cauldron?” 

Johnny’s frown somehow deepens. He thinks it over and can’t exactly remember cleaning the cauldron. But, he definitely would have done that, right? 

“There is a slight possibility I did not clean the cauldron.” He admits trying to nose his way under Shownu’s jaw. He is embarrassed. 

“That would do it, baby.” Shownu is definitely trying not to laugh and Johnny can’t even fault him. It’s such a rookie mistake. 

“Gods,” Johnny whines again, walking Shownu back to the couch so he can climb directly into his lap. “That’s awful. Why are you dating me? I can’t even make a sleeping potion.” 

Shownu just shushes him, plays with his hair and lets him grouse and fuss for a little while longer. 

“I’m with you because you make me feel more than magic.” He says with a kiss to Johnny’s temple. “You could mess up a million potions and accidentally summon a thousand demons-”

“That was one time!” 

“...A thousand demons and I would still choose to be with you.” Shownu kisses the bridge of Johnny’s nose this time and he melts. 

“You’re such a sap,” Johnny mumbles, trying to hide the way he’s preening under the compliments. 

“Good thing you love me regardless.” Shownu goes in for a kiss on Johnny’s lips this time. 

They clean up the cauldron together and Shownu does not tease Johnny about it even once. He could always try again tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 3 of johnmas. my brain hasn't stopped thinking about johnny and shownu for like twenty four hours. did you know one time nct and monsta x shared a hotel and shownu thought about calling johnny but then decided against it because he thought johnny would be too tired? yeah that is going to keep me awake for years. they are just two bears being the safest men in the world. 
> 
> okay enough of that. Thanks for reading!


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